


The Shadows on My Wall Don't Sleep

by Zappy



Series: Crimson Spade [7]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: mention of Catwoman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:09:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8185004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zappy/pseuds/Zappy
Summary: Insomnia is one thing. Unwillingness to sleep because you're afraid of what might happen is another. Hood deals with the latter. January 20th, 2003.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The title (and the need to write this chapter) were both inspired by the song "Nothing Left To Say" by Imagine Dragons. I recommend listening to it if you get a chance!
> 
> This chapter also sorta goes hand-in-hand with In the Light of Day, though it's not necessary.

The sound of someone shouting about scores woke him. Which was a shock as he didn’t remember falling asleep in the first place. Hood rubbed his aching head as he looked around his apartment. Now that he could focus a bit better, he could block out his noisy neighbors and try to think back.

 

“What was I doing last...?” Hood asked himself aloud, glancing at his clothes. With a frantic motion he stood from where he’d been sprawled on the floor, pulling at the suit coat he was wearing. It was an awful shade of purple. A sickeningly familiar shade.

 

“Please be a nightmare, please be a nightmare.”

 

_ We both know you’re not that lucky, Hoody. Why? Don’t like my fashion choices? _

 

Hood groaned and ran both hands through his hair. Ignore the voice and think. The last thing he remembered clearly was speaking to Batsy over the Batwave, listening to him flirt- _ speak to _ the  _ thief _ who’d taken up the stage of Gotham lately. Right, he’d turned off his signal after loudly informing Batman that he’d be patrolling the outer-reaches of Gotham that night. What time was it?

 

“Six in the morning? When did I finish patrol... _ did _ I finish patrol?” Hood moaned, curling in on himself and collapsing onto the bed. This wasn’t good. Hardly a way to start a new year, twenty days into 2003 and Hood felt like he was drowning all over again.

 

Getting up and pacing around the cramped room, he skipped stepping on the articles he’d saved that had fallen off the wall with motions made of muscle memory and long practice. After racking his brain and ignoring the cackling in the back of his skull, he still couldn’t remember a thing between the hours of 4 in the morning and now. This was cause for some...extreme measures.

 

~~

 

“Hood, watch out!”

 

“Wah?” Hood turned, but not nearly quick enough to dodge the crowbar to the head. Stumbling back and dizzy, Hood blindly threw some of his spades, and it was through sheer luck that one landed its mark.

 

Batman took down the thug who’d been wanting to make a large withdrawal after hours. That made four, which was all of them if Hood remembered correctly. He wasn’t confident in his own count, but Batman didn’t seem rushed as he tied them up as a gift for the cops.

 

“What’s with you Hood? You’ve been out of it for days.” Batman’s voice had that edge of annoyance with a tint of concern in it, and Hood took a moment to bask in that little sliver.

 

Or maybe he just couldn’t open his mouth. Turning thoughts to actions had become...difficult. “‘M fine, Bats.”

 

“Are you  _ drunk _ ?” And now he sounded appalled and that was more than a tint of outrage. That was no good.

 

“O’ course not! I don’ drink. Don’ you rem’mber Chris’mas?” 

 

From the look on Bats’ face, that didn’t help his case. He couldn’t fathom why. “You’re slurring your words. Do you have a concussion? I thought your helmet was more shock absorbent after last time.” 

 

Oh, that explained it. “The shadows on my wall don’t sleep.”

 

“...Pardon?”

 

Hood waved his hand, and ended up waving his whole body. “Haven’t...nightmares.” Yeah, that wasn’t a lie. His life was a nightmare after all. And if Bats just assumed the subconscious kind well, that wasn’t up to Hood to correct him.

 

“You desperately need sleep. Don’t come on patrol tomorrow. I don’t need you, not like this.”

 

That...that hurt.

 

_ Ahahaha! What’d you expect? You’re not exactly  _ useful _ , Hoody, and now that the Bat has the Cat to play with, you’re not even entertainment! _

 

Hood was still standing there, next to four tied up would-be-robbers in front of Gotham First Bank as the dark of night was cut through with flashes of red and blue. Only the thought that he really didn’t want to have to put on his playful mask made him snap out of his dejection and leave the scene.

 

The next twenty hours were spent staring at his wall in his room, flicking from one article of Bats to another, sometimes just zoning out entirely. The twenty-first hour was spent curled up next to the radiator, handcuffed.

 

He didn’t remember hours twenty-two to twenty-five.

  
He didn’t think he’d spent the time sleeping.

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who might not know, if you go long enough without sleep, it has the same effect on your brain as alcohol does. It's why when you're really really tired, you act almost drunk.


End file.
